U.S. immigration authorities have removed more than 356,000 people so far this fiscal year, new ICE figures show, putting President Donald Trump’s immigration operation within reach of a deportation record set under Barack Obama.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement listed 356,389 removals so far in fiscal 2026, with more than two months left before the government year ends on September 30. The Obama administration deported 438,421 people in fiscal 2013, abcNEWS reported.
The numbers give the Trump administration a measurable answer to supporters who have demanded faster action on the president’s mass deportation pledges. They also give critics a clearer target as they challenge the scale and methods of federal enforcement.
ICE said 65,765 people are currently held in detention facilities, and said 60% of them have a criminal record. Arrest activity peaked in June, when ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection made just over 43,000 arrests, an average of 1,438 a day.
The release landed as ICE faces scrutiny over two fatal shootings in Maine and Texas. The agency has acknowledged the men killed were not the targets of the operations, while saying they were in the country illegally.
Mike Howell, president of the Trump-aligned Oversight Project, said the numbers may exceed the Obama-era total but still fall short of what Trump promised his base.
“We shouldn’t even be comparing to Obama anyways; it was supposed to be a categorically different program for mass deportation into the millions to beat Eisenhower,” Howell said.
That leaves the administration defending both the pace of removals and the conduct of agents carrying them out.
